Floor pad



Dec- 24 1963 c. s. RocKABRAND ETAI. 3,114,940

FLOOR PAD Filed April 21, 1958 INVENTORS Cnuoe SocKAaRA/vo B/{jo wapo ill/aal Naan/AM www Arm/wey United States Patent Otiiice ildd@ Patented Dec. 24, 1963 3,114,940 FLOR PAD Clande S. Roekabrand, 538 S. Ridgeiand Ave., Oak Park,

lll., and Howard E. Higginbotham, 4813 Randolph St.,

Hillside, lli.; Anna May Rockabrand, executrix of said Claude S. Rochabrand, deceased Filed Apr. 2l, 1958, Ser. No. 729,641 3 Claims. (Cl. Ztl-6) This invention relates, in general, to floor constructions for buildings of different kinds, including dwellings, and it has to do particularly with resilient floor pads that are interposed between sublloors and superposed floors.

Our improved resilient floor pads are intended for attachment to the underside of sleepers that support the flooring, and the sleepers, in turn, are supported through the floor pads `from a suboor. It is obvious that supere posed doors thus supported are capable of a yielding action, known as give, and that such floors afford comfort to persons walking, running or standing thereon, as well as roller skating and dancing and minimize fatigue.

The pads may be supplied to builders separate from the sleepers, although there are advantages arising from prefabrication of the sleepers and pads by the supplier, according to preferred spacing and arrangement of the pads with respect to the sleepers.

Among the objects of our invention are: to provide a floor pad of natural or synthetic rubber or other elastic material of appropriate resiliency designed for attachment, by suitable fasteners, to the under side of sleepers, the pad including means for protecting the fasteners against being loosened or dislodged by contact with objects during the handling and shipment of Prefabricated assemblies of pads and sleepers; and to provide a floor pad characterized by inwardly enlarging grooves that open through the planar under surface of the body portion of the pad and are defined along their open sides by relatively sharp undercut edges, the material of the body portion on opposite sides of each groove constituting ribs of relatively narrow cross section in a zone spaced a distance inwardly from the open sides of the grooves, this feature contributing to a desirable action when the pad is subjected to compressive forces in a substantially vertical direction or to shearing forces in a generally horizontal direction.

Another object is to provide a door pad that readily lends itself to economical production, in different sizes, by the extrusion of strips of material of appropriate cross sectional size and shape and severing the strips into pieces of required width to produce pads of the desired size.

By reason of the shape of the grooves and ribs above described, the pad not only reacts to forces imposed thereon in a manner to insure proper resilient action or give to the floor, but a bearing surface is produced for contact with the subloor which performs in the fashion of a well defined and etiicient tire tread for minimizing creeping of the pad on the subfloor during expansion and contraction of the superposed door, brought about by atmospheric and temperature changes.

The objects above set forth, with others that will appear as this description proceeds, are attained in the embodiments of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein- FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one form of our improved lloor pad, revealing the grooved underneath side thereof;

FlG. 2 is a perspective view of another form of the pad, showing the corrugated top side thereof;

FIG. 3 is a sectional detail of a oor construction incorporating the pads, and

FlG. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

rhe pad shown in FIG. l, and designated generally by the reference numeral it), consists of a flat body portion il, having substantially parallel top and bottom surfaces. The body portion is rectangular, and extending from the opposite ends thereof are relatively thick attaching flanges 14. The top surfaces of the flanges 14 are flush with the corresponding surface of the pad, and lips 16 depend from the edges of the flanges 14 remote from the body portion, for a purpose presently to be explained. Grooves 18 open through the bottom surface of the body portion 1l and adjacent said surface their opposed sides are upwardly divergent so as to produce relatively sharp edges 2i) along the opposite sides of the grooves. In the present instance, the grooves l are substantially square in cross section and are disposed as though one diagonal axis of the square is vertical, and the other horizontal.

It follows from the foregoing that ribs 22 extend along the opposite sides of each groove and, by reason of the shape of the grooves, the ribs are reduced in breadth in the plane of the widest parts of the grooves.

As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the pads l0 are secured, by fastening means or staples 226, to the underside of sleepers 23 that carry a iloor 3d. The boards of which the oor is formed are secured to the sleepers in the usual way. Obviously, the floor may be double, if desired, in accordance with conventional practice. The door construction just described is resiliently supported, through the pads it?, from a subfloor 32. The subfloor may be of any suitable construction and material, the one shown in the drawing being indicated as consisting of a cement slab.

In practice, sleepers of convenient lengthfour feet, for example-may be supplied to builders with the floor pads secured thereto by the fastening means or staples 26. The lips ld, that extend along the outer edges of the attaching flanges id, effectively protect the fastening means or stapes 26 from Contact with objects during handling and shipment of the prefabricated assemblies of sleepers and pads, and which might cause the fastening means to be loosened or dislodged.

It is evident that the pads l@ resiliently support the superposed floor structure, but it will be understood that the composition of the pads is stiff and firm enough to prevent noticeable descent of the door structure under its own weight. In this connection it may be explained that the desired spacing apart of the pads is approximately twelve inches in both directions of the floor structure. To avoid relative vertical movement between adjoining aligned sleepers, the joints of one row of sleepers are olfsct or staggered with respect to the joints of adjacent rows.

When Weight or sudden impact is imposed upon the iioor in a vertical direction, the ribs 22 of the body portions of the pads will yield in a vertical direction, and when a lateral thrust is imparted to the floor, a stress in a substantially horizontal direction will be transmitted to the pads and under these circumstances the ribs will be deformed laterally to a very slight degree. Due to the fact that the ribs are reduced in breadth a distance upwardly from the bottom surface of the pads, they will yield more readily to this latter action.

As hereinbefore pointed out, the grooved bottom surface of the pad functions in the manner of an efficient tire tread, the action being enhanced by the sharp edges Ztl, and as a result, shifting of the pad on the subfloor during expansion and contraction of the superposed door structure is minimized.

In the modied form of the pad illustrated in FIG. 2, the grooves 18a are of dovetail shape in cross section. Hence, the sides of the grooves diverge upwardly, producing the sharp edges 2da, and they join the horizontal top walls of the groove at an acute angle. The intermediate ribs 22n are of minimum breadth in the plane of said top walls, which condition enhances the action of the pad especially when subjected to stresses in a lateral direction. The top surface of the pad is shown as made up of parallel transverse ribs, which tends to overcome, to a considerable extent, any tendency of the pad to shift with respect to the sleeper to which it is secured. Furthermore, a pad or the present design effects a saving in rubber over a pad of the design and proportions of the one first described, the il-shaped channels that set off the ribs of the top wall being within the maximum thickness of the earlier described pad; and since the grooves 20a are of greater cross sectional area than those of the rst described forrn, less rubber is contained in the body portion 11a of the pad 10a.

The pads are cut from extrusions of natural or synthetic rubber or other suitable elastic material having a cross section that corresponds to the shape of the pad when viewed from the side. Therefore, different size pads differ in width only and the width is determined by the loads and stresses to which the pads are expected to be subjected. Obviously, smaller pads are used in loors of dwellings than are employed in the floors of cornmercial or industrial buildings or gymnasiums. Accordingly, from the same extrusion, heavy duty and light duty pads may be produced simply by cutting them to appropriate width.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

1. A floor pad composed of a rectangular integral piece of resilient material and comprising a flat body portion having top and bottom surfaces lying in substantially parallel planes and being of reduced thickness at its ends to provide integral attaching flanges that are of uniform width throughout their length and are flush on their upper sides with the top surface of the body portion, an integral lip extending along and depending from the edge of each fiange remote from the body portion and being of a depth within the thickness of said portion, the body portion having a series of relatively deep hollow grooves parallel to its ends that are open at their ends and also through its bottom surface, and ribs on opposite sides of each groove, the sides of the grooves diverging upwardly from the bottom surfaces at a relatively wide angle thereby to produce comparatively sharp edges along the opposite sides of the grooves and reduce in lateral dimension the aforesaid ribs a distance upwardly from said bottom surface.

2. A floor pad as set forth in claim 1 wherein the sides of said grooves reconverge upwardly above the point where said ribs are of minimum Width whereby the grooves have a substantially square section with the diagonal of the square arranged vertically.

3. A floor pad as set forth in claim 1 wherein the grooves have a generally dove-tail shaped cross-section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,280,363 Anderson Oct. 1, 1918 1,572,854 Clark et al. Feb. 9, 1926 1,628,090 Weiss May 10, 1927 1,629,433 Bonner et al. May 17, 1927 1,661,037 Gainmeter Feb. 28, 1928 1,846,255 Harding Feb. 23, 1932 2,337,525 Peik Dec. 21, 1943 2,546,394 Harmon Mar. 27, 1951 2,579,467 Brickman Dec. 25, 1951 2,860,384 Wait et al Nov. 18, 1958 2,862,255 Nelson Dec. 2, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 399,647 Great Britain Oct. 12, 1933 550,074 Great Britain Dec. 22, 1942 805,281 Germany May 15, 1951 72,951 Denmark Aug. 20, 1951 OTHER REFERENCES The Engineer, p. 503 (Br. #678,731), Oct. 10, 1952. 

1. A FLOOR PAD COMPOSED OF A RECTANGULAR INTEGRAL PIECE OF RESILIENT MATERIAL AND COMPRISING A FLAT BODY PORTION HAVING TOP AND BOTTOM SURFACES LYING IN SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL PLANES AND BEING OF REDUCED THICKNESS AT ITS ENDS TO PROVIDE INTEGRAL ATTACHING FLANGES THAT ARE OF UNIFORM WIDTH THROUGHOUT THEIR LENGTH AND ARE FLUSH ON THEIR UPPER SIDES WITH THE TOP SURFACE OF THE BODY PORTION, AN INTEGRAL LIP EXTENDING ALONG AND DEPENDING FROM THE EDGE OF EACH FLANGE REMOTE FROM THE BODY PORTION AND BEING OF A DEPTH WITHIN THE THICKNESS OF SAID PORTION, THE BODY PORTION HAVING A SERIES OF RELATIVELY DEEP HOLLOW GROOVES PARALLEL TO ITS ENDS THAT ARE OPEN AT THEIR ENDS AND ALSO THROUGH ITS BOTTOM SURFACE, AND RIBS ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF EACH GROOVE, THE SIDES OF THE GROOVES DIVERGING UPWARDLY FROM THE BOTTOM SURFACES AT A RELATIVELY WIDE ANGLE THEREBY TO PRODUCE COMPARATIVELY SHARP EDGES ALONG THE OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE GROOVES AND REDUCE IN LATERAL DIMENSION THE AFORESAID RIBS A DISTANCE UPWARDLY FROM SAID BOTTOM SURFACE. 